Friday, February 29, 2008

Throughout this year we are asked to be the ones who need to comfort others, to have all the answers, and to always do what is right. Yet, where do we turn in times of need? Where are the answers to our questions? Why can't the people we serve have better lives? In today's readings, we find the message needed for us to comfort our worries and fears. The answer to all of our questions is found in God, a God who loves.

At orientation we heard the phrase “One mind and one heart intent upon God”. Have we been living our volunteer year with one mind and one heart towards God? Where in our lives have we recognized God's love for us? God wants us to come to him, just as the Psalms remind us: “In distress you called, and I rescued you; Unseen, I answered you in thunder...If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways”. We are the obstacle to this love. It is up to us, to hear the Lord and to love Him in return. Let us not forget the greatest commandment as told by Mark in today's Gospel: “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

As we continue to celebrate the life of Jesus and prepare for his death and resurrection, let the answers come from within. A love of God that is rooted within will lead to self discovery, help to strengthen our communities, and settle all of our worries.

Friday, February 22, 2008

A view of downtown Chicago just south of Navy Pier. I am pretty happy with the results. The light on the right was really blown out so I did a poor job darkening it a bit. I did selective desaturation on the snow in the foreground because it was neon green.Shutter speed was 2 seconds and F/5.0 with a nikkon 28-80mm f3.5-4.8 lens.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The simplest way to define that which seems temporarily indefinable is to break it down into it's more definable component parts. Let's try this.

We have these lovely bookends, four and four. What is four? Why are they there? What do they mean? Who put them there? How did they get put there? Where is there? Let's turn to Wikipedia. "4 (four) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. Four is the only number in the English language for which the number of letters in its name is equal to the number itself. This is also true in several other languages." Wow four. You've certainly got a lot going for you. I'm glad we picked you to be in the title of our lovely little project here. Thanks buddy.

So now to the crux of the matter, our centerpiece, love. Ask different people what love is and you're sure to get different definitions. Ask a tennis player and he or she might say zero. Why you ask? Well this I can explain without Wikipedia. Tennis was invented millions of years ago by the tyrannosaurus rex, and when making the rules the t-rex wanted love to by synonymous with no score, because he loved when his brontosaurus opponents had no score. It's fact. Check Wikipedia. In... five minutes (or when I'm done with this post). Anyway. Love is caritas. And our good Pope Benedict XVI was right when he said deus caritas est.

But most important. Four love four (404) is an html not found error. Like 404, you will not find material worthy of glossy-paged magazines, hard-cover books, or gold-frames here. What you will find is a wonderfully mediocre attempt at creativity by individuals who so desire to be creative, perfectly suitable not for the above, but for the gigantic trash-can that is the interweb. So keep posted, stay tuned, and click refresh in your browser from as many unique IP addresses as you can (it boosts our ego).